Chicken Soup for Flu
Winter is a high-risk season for cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, diabetes, arteriosclerosis, and influenza. This is mainly because cold weather reduces the body’s resistance to viruses, allowing diseases to take advantage. How can we enhance our immunity through diet?
Dr. Bukowski of Harvard Medical School discovered a chemical substance in tea that can increase the body’s disease-prevention ability fivefold. Thus, drinking warm tea in winter boosts immunity. For those with cardiovascular diseases, winter should involve low-salt, low-fat diets, eating more fish, vegetables, and fruits. Moderate wine consumption may also help prevent disease. Those with coronary heart disease should avoid obesity, as it increases cardiac load. Winter usually brings increased appetite—thus, advocating small, frequent meals, eating only 70–80% full. Diets should be low in salt, fat, sugar, and calories, with coarse and fine grains balanced.
Pneumonia has the highest incidence in winter. Always drink plenty of water to help liquefy and expel phlegm. Those with rheumatic diseases should avoid animal organs, oysters, sardines, and other foods in winter, strictly abstain from alcohol, and drink more water to promote metabolism.
Colds are common in winter. Dietary principles after catching a cold: choose easily digestible liquid diets such as vegetable soup, thin porridge, milk, etc.; eat more foods rich in vitamin C, vitamin E, and red-colored foods like tomatoes, grapes, red dates, oranges, etc.; drink plenty of plain water.
For different types of colds, adopt different dietary approaches: For wind-cold type colds, eat more foods that induce sweating and dispel cold, such as chili, garlic, tofu, and ginger with rock sugar water, to expel cold. Recent U.S. research shows chicken soup helps fight flu by aiding virus elimination.
For wind-heat type colds, eat more foods that promote heat dissipation and clear heat, such as mung beans, radishes, cabbage roots, mint, tea, and starfruit. Eating raw pears or cooking pear juice with rice and eating warm is also effective.
For dual surface and interior colds, drink more acidic juices like hawthorn juice, kiwi juice, red date juice, fresh orange juice, or watermelon juice to stimulate gastric juice secretion.
For gastrointestinal-type colds, drink chrysanthemum or Longjing tea, or brew mung beans with rock sugar as tea. Also, eat more vegetables and fruits rich in calcium, zinc, and vitamins—such as radishes, pears, kiwis, citrus, and various mushrooms—to alleviate symptoms.